whynursing

Nursing salaries don't match the enormous responsibilities at the bedside! My unit is in a constant state of training and as a 25 plus year nurse there are no rewards for precepting and a penny for certification!! Oh and salary is maxed and I am 50 years old! Great incentive to stay..ha!!a few seconds ago - LikeUnlike

great posts about Shared Governance. I work in an ICU and we have a new director ( 2 years ) who does not practice Shared Governance and we are Magnet...intersting....Our committees are on paper only.. recently she instituted major changes and never had a unit vote on the topic. so once again moral is low again and staff are unhappy.

My manager feels a IABP can be tripled and they sometimes are.............and she has no idea what the care of an IABP entails and what could go wrong.. She is all about staffing #'s and not acuity!!!

My unit has a portable lift but we rarely use it, so now who remembers how to use it. It's obscene how heavy the patients are.... 450 lbs... are you kidding me.....

Clearly, an ICU nurse can handle 2 patients on drips, vents etc.... but the documentation becomes a nightmare because CMS expects perfect charts such as restraint documentation. We utilize online charting and the detailed charting is ridiculous. Oh and ALL the Interruptions...24 hour family presence.... residents who can't carry their weight. I really feel they want a perfect chart but whether you do the care or not doens't really matter. It's a very scary at the bedside sometimes.... when I see a nurse charting at 0805, has 2 patient assignmnet.....so what care did they provide.....did they even turn the patient. Interesting how oral care, a basic need, has been researched and proven to be important but you find the toothbrush still in plastic and the patient has been in the unit for 3 days. But it is charted as completed.

In my instituition, the MD is responsible for the entire 45 minute manual pull. The RN cannot be tied up that long since we have more than one patient. And if the pull goes bad what can the nurse do.

If you are new to the unit or floor, ask them to return to orientation. Perhaps a few weeks of orientation can make all the difference.